Rome R3 preview and prediction: Sharapova vs. Gavrilova

Maria Sharapova and Daria Gavrilova will be squaring off for the third time in their careers and for the first time since 2015 when they meet again in round three of the Internazionali BNL d’Italia on Thursday. They split a pair of encounters three years ago, when Gavrilova prevailed 7-6(4), 6-3 in Miami and Sharapova scored a 7-5, 6-3 victory in the semifinals of this same Rome tournament.

The Russian appears to be picking up momentum just in time for the French Open. Having not won back-to-back matches since the Australian Open, Sharapova earned three wins last week in Madrid on her way to the quarterfinals and she has advanced so far in Rome with three-set defeats of Ashleigh Barty and Dominica Cibulkova.

“I was really happy at the end,” the 31-year-old said following her win over Cibulkova. “I thought there was a lot of good things to take away from it. The competitiveness…and against a player that I thought competed and played really well and played some of her best tennis for a long stretch of time. I don’t think she’s been producing that type of tennis in the last few months, and to come out today and to play that way…I expect that from a lot of players. And I thought I delivered quite well. So that makes me happy.”

“I’d like to just forget that first set. I was just slow and not with it, really; not seeing the ball well, not adjusting, not making any little adjustment steps (and) hitting a lot of errors. I was like, ‘Well, that’s got to change. And I’ve just got to be a little bit more aggressive.’ I thought my level was extremely high throughout the match…. I was really happy with the way that I finished.”

Nobody finished better than Gavrilova on Wednesday. The Australian trailed Garbine Muguruza by a double-break in their third set only to storm back and save two match points en route to a 5-7, 7-2, 7-6(6) upset of Rome’s No. 3 seed. Gavrilova finally crossed the finish line–well into Thursday morning–after three hours and eight minutes. The 24-year-old also needed two hours and 35 minutes to outlast qualifier Natalia Vikhlyantseva 5-7, 6-4, 6-3 in the first round.

Look for Sharapova control rallies with big hitting and wear down a fatigued opponent.

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